Years ago pastor Mitchell said that America's greatest sin was covetousness. It wasn't abortion or homosexuality or murder. It was the love of money that was at the top of the list. The love of money is behind unaffordable housing and unlivable wages. Greed has provoked more armed conflicts than religion in the modern world. Politics is no longer about character or ethics or morals. It's about the economy, stupid. One preacher said that covetousness is the fear of not having enough. Is that what motivates the uber rich to want even more? Are they just plain scared of not having enough?
Pastor Mitchell also once preached a sermon on being kingdom builders or earth fillers. Whether we, as the church, are focused on building ourselves bigger, like the people in Babel, or whether we are more interested in filling the earth to fulfil the great commission. God has a great kingdom. For planet earth God's plan has always been to fill the earth and subdue it. Going into all the world to preach the gospel is consistent with God's earth-filling mandate.
It costs a lot of money to do what we do. We must be careful not to let money become our focus. We must be careful that we focus on making people Christian and not creating a Christian nation.
If our vision has become boring to you, maybe you ought to retire and let someone with fresh faith take over. And remember, it would be a demotion to go from behind your pulpit to winning an election.
Pastor Mitchell once said that truth is hard on church growth. He was right on all accounts.
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